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I did a mini tour to attend a wedding in Normandy last August, thoroughly recommend. It went like that:
- train to Portsmouth on Thursday morning very early and ferry to Cherbourg, arriving at 1pm
- mess around Cotentin, Normandie and Seine-Maritime for some time, attend wedding
- take late afternoon ferry back to Porstmouth from Le Havre on Monday, and train back to London on the same evening (my ferry was late so it was a bit tight but I got it in the end)
That added up to 420 km but could have been made shorter if needed.
Plenty of hotels/bivvy opportunities around, great roads and countryside (with variations depending on if you follow the coast or go inland). I slept at a monastery in Bricquebec and a hotel in Thury-Harcourt.
Best part - you don't need to prep any route. Just get this map and make it up as you go along.
- train to Portsmouth on Thursday morning very early and ferry to Cherbourg, arriving at 1pm
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Your experience may differ, but I found cycle touring in NL boring as hell - too flat and the cycle lanes (which you have to use) can be a pain, although they're obviously very safe.
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Normandy is fantastic, scenic, lovely roads, rolling terrain and easy to get to, take the night ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. Getting out of Caen is easy, take the bike path right out of the ferry port to the Pegasus bridge, turn left...
I've got a whole bunch of mapped out routes if you're interested. -
I did a quick blast to visit family in Utrecht this summer: London - Harwich; overnight ferry to Hook; Hook - Utrecht; then back in reverse. Hook- Utrecht is ~100-110km; If I were touring in a more leisurely fashion I'd have broken the journey halfway near Alphen a/d Rijn. Stena Line are having a sale on their ticket prices until Sunday - 20% off crossings and cabin bookings IIRC. Dunno whether this makes it competitive with the Eurostar, but if I were going again I'd be thinking about getting the train to Harwich after work in time for the evening sailing.
I love touring in NL - I know the cycle paths aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I find cycling there incredibly calming. The infrastructure removes the psychic weight of having to be subconsciously on the lookout for traffic that I don't even realise I'm carrying when I'm out for a ride in the UK. The landscape is flat, but not devoid of interest; IMO the big skies make up for the lack of hills, and the quality of the built environment is streets ahead of the UK. The only drawbacks are the occasional headwinds, and the lack of rises to get out of the saddle on (apart from the odd overpass/bridge...).
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Looking at mini tours from London that are train and or ferry. 3-4 days riding, not mega distances, credit card touring - so light loaded. Did the Isle of Wight recently and that went well, so maybe try further afield.
So far, have come up with..
Cherbourg to St Malo - about 250km, mostly greenways
https://en.tourdemanche.com has some interesting routes, could use the ferry into Portsmouth from the start and finish in France - but the schedule is very seasonal.
Amsterdam > Utrecht and then where ever time allows.
Direct train to Amsterdam then heading into the countryside, see some friends in Utrecht. The new train service is ££££. Need to wait for a sale!
Open to other ideas!